Chair Sandy Martin announced at the Nov. 9 Mayor’s Task Force on Economic Development meeting that for some shops and restaurants, October was a banner month. Kent Butler, sales director for the Great Passion Play, said the GPP had its best month in 15 years.
Martin passed around statistics showing the City Advertising and Promotion Commission tax collections for the year through the end of September are up over the same period last year by 7.6 percent. Cabins and cottages showed the largest percentage increase with 24.7 percent improvement over 2016, motels improved by 8.9 percent and restaurants, which generate the largest amount of tax, showed a 6.4 percent increase. Hotels improved only slightly and Bed & Breakfasts declined a small amount.
Martin said in spite of the good news about October revenues, the proposed one percent tax did not pass so it will be even more important for the city to focus on ways to boost the local economy.
President Tammy Thurow of the Chamber of Commerce told the group her staff collected data from visitors who went to the Visitor Center between May 1 and October 31 of this year, and Mark Westmoreland of the Chamber used his skills as a statistician to display compiled information in a series of graphs and charts. Thurow’s results represented self-reported responses from 5,535 visitors.
She said they estimated a visitor on average spent $240 per day in Eureka Springs. The Chamber pie chart revealed 37 percent of a visitor’s expenses went toward lodging, 21 percent for food, nine percent on recreation, and the remaining 35 percent split almost evenly between retail and transportation to get here.
A map showing clusters of responses indicates most responses came from areas in which the CAPC places cable television ads –Dallas, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Wichita and St. Louis. There were hot spots in Houston, San Antonio, Chicago and southeastern Minnesota. Overall, 47 states were represented. Martin pointed out visitors from outside the four-hour drive zone might indicate the effectiveness of Internet advertising.
Most tourists in the survey were ages 51-65, but Arkansas and Tennessee had more visitors in the 36-50 group.
CAPC commissioner Damon Henke observed mountain bikers, for example, who come to town probably would not go to the Visitor Center, so the data would not represent all travelers.
Martin responded the data provides more information than the city had before, so add it to whatever else they have and together it begins to describe who comes here. She said this “quality self-reported data” could have great implications for marketing.
CAPC Executive Director Mike Maloney echoed her sentiments. He said the survey results reinforce marketing strategies the CAPC has been using for a few years. “We’re certainly not overrun with data,” Maloney said, adding statistics help inform effective marketing decisions. “We have to create another reason for people to come to Eureka Springs. We have a lot of work to do for the city.”
Butler said he analyzed data from attendance at the GPP and discovered that percentage attendance by state was statistically identical to 10 years ago, and agreed with Maloney the entire city needs to make use of all data harbored in various places. Butler also suggested Kansas and Nebraska were untapped markets waiting to hear about Eureka Springs.
The group discussed other ways to collect reliable data about tourists, and Maloney said it would be useful to have better numbers on how visitors spent their money while they were here because the business community needs to know what people want to buy. It would also be important to know the principal reason tourists come to Eureka Springs. Maloney mentioned that improvements in digital and cable television ads allow the CAPC to place ads in very specific places, and data from visitors helps to pinpoint where to spend advertising dollars.
Talk continued regarding how to get more facts about who visits and which data to gather, and the group eventually decided to conduct visitor surveys next year from Wednesday to Wednesday on seven-day spans which include Memorial Day weekend, August 19 (lackluster tourist time), and October 21 (busy end-of-season time). Members agreed to refine their message, define their strategy and recruit participants.
Butler asserted that merchants would buy into the strategy more easily if they can see something good will happen with results. Martin observed this project would cost nothing and it would be an example of the CAPC, the Chamber, Task Force, and the community collaborating.